


With the Stars and Us

by Ponkareshi



Category: Keyakizaka46 (Band)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-04
Updated: 2019-07-11
Packaged: 2019-10-04 01:45:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17295332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ponkareshi/pseuds/Ponkareshi
Summary: All she wanted to do was look at the stars.But little did she know, that girl was neither the star nor the moon she wanted to see.





	1. One

Kobayashi Yui is currently, strangely attracted to stars. Enthralled by the billions of burning gas light years away from her windowsill, it was simple, yet something-- different. It was nothing like Hailey’s Comet orbiting around the system or what Galileo Galilei would’ve seen with his scope; it was an entirely different concept.

 

“Pon!” That same, bashful voice was enough to snap her out of her senses, bento untouched and the same, bland atmosphere around her. “Pon, you haven’t touched your food yet.”

 

“...Sorry. I’m not really in the mood to eat.” Pon bitterly shakes her head. “I’m still caught up in this, aren’t I?”

 

Manaka snatches an egg from Pon’s bento, before continuing. “Well, it’s late at night and we’re sneaking food at the rooftop, I’d find it more unusual if you wouldn’t be requesting something like this.”

 

“It’s just..” Pon inhales deeply, “Whenever it’s night and this whole, chilly air comes around, it somehow feels like it’s consuming me in its thick blanket, and before I knew it I’m already immersed in this strange feeling of space wrapping around me, like pulling me towards the stars.”

 

Science wasn’t Manaka’s forte, but she gets the point. That’s the best thing about her; she may be a dumbass in class but she’s still rational enough to understand Pon’s tendency of falling in love with the sky. “Maybe it’s trying to tell something?”

 

Pon’s eyes seemed to brighten up in delight, enlightened about Manaka’s statement. “Something like?”

 

Manaka shrugs, but she still smiles anyway. “Maybe it’s trying to tell you that someone would come around and give the same, warm blanket in this cold, something that will pull you with the same amount of force it’s trying to pull you.”

 

Kobayashi never thought of it. The sky telling her to interpret something in this weird phenomenon that seems to happen specifically to her; feeling like it’s something more nuanced than whatever’s usual.

 

“Do you think they’d love the stars?”

 

“Who?”

 

“The someone you’re talking about.”

 

“I don’t know, maybe?”

 

Kobayashi knew that was the answer she’ll receive, but she didn’t mind. It would be selfish to know more than what a human brain capacity could receive, anyway.

 

The night goes on as usual, and there’s not much talking after that. The only thing standing out was when Manaka unusually didn’t finish her food, and Manaka’s view of Pon looking at the sky with this expression on her face that she couldn’t seem to understand.

  


The look of someone who only wishes but to understand the mysteries of the space and the universe itself.

  


_________________________________________

  


She always wondered if Music and Astronomy were almost of the same wavelength. Both are endlessly continued to explore, even a tiny bit of specimen found would’ve been a great discovery. It looks shallow on the surface but there’s much more than meets the eye.

 

It’s like a nebula, a demanding slew of notes waiting to burst, and suddenly it just-- combusts. It’s far more unimaginable unlike the solo piano pieces usually memorized that were only stuck at what was taught. It’s like a star searching for another star, and together it’s an explosion of colors, vastly different and way past outside the boundaries of their capacities.

  


It’s a lot more than just sentimental value to Yui, rather, it’s what always been inside her mind ever since she first stepped into that room.

 

________________________________________

 

It’s another day at the music club, although it’s painfully quiet and boringly bland. Yuuka decides to cut off practice today for the sole reason of finding a  pianist for a broader range of genres.

 

Initially, Manaka points at Yui.

 

“I’ve heard her play before,” she says, “but we’ll lose a sax player though.”

 

Yui just buries her face into her palms, and Yuuka just sighs. “I wanted Pon to play the piano too but Alto Sax plays a very crucial part in our songs.”

 

All their shoulders drop in defeat. Their best chance at this would only be another member, someone extremely skilled and someone who could go along their pieces nicely; but there’s noone coming to the music room and it’s already past 6, just about a few minutes before Yui’s train arrives.

 

“ _Uhm,”_ Yui starts as she rearrange her sax inside the case. “I _really_ really need to go, I gotta take the train by 30.”

 

“Take care Yui.” Risa waves, and the other two follow.

 

Yui waves back, and emptily leaves the room. It’s dusk; and the hallways are dark and empty, but the strong light emanating from the moon was a nice contrast, and suddenly she felt like slowing down. The sky does this thing again where the wonders of it just spawns, appears, its mystery still present yet unclear at the same time.

 

If only she--

 

“Ow!”

 

She breaks out of her thoughts and immediately tried to rebound. Quite a large force was pressed against her, tripping the seemingly fragile girl on the floor.

 

“I-I’m sorry!” She starts, scrambling on the floor to gather papers that looked too familiar for Kobayashi. Those were music scores, piano sheets, specifically. “I must have spaced out while walking.”

 

“It’s no big deal,” Yui replies, ducking to her level as she picks up the rest of the papers. “I would be lying if I didn’t say I _was_ too.”

 

Both of them awkwardly stood up afterwards. The moonlight shone across her face and their eyes finally meet, an unknown glow present in her irises. Her small stature and the fact that they were both on the floor made it almost impossible for her to see her clearly-- but now the light is present and suddenly she finds herself trying to search for words.

 

The girl was just about her shoulders, short hair with messy bangs that suited her quite round face. The light perfectly shined across her eyes-- they were wide, curious, eyes that resembled a child’s innocent glint.

 

It was quiet, and for a moment there Kobayashi suddenly forgot the reason why she was at the hallway.

 

“Uhm,” The girl purses her lips, averting her gaze, “Thanks.”

 

“Oh that’s-- that’s nothing.” She waved, “Be careful next time by the way.”

 

She giggles-- the kind where it’s not too forced or overdone-- before she happily nods with her grin never leaving her face. “I will.”

 

Kobayashi glances at her watch. It’s 10 minutes before her train arrives, and her mother would be furious if she arrived home late even by a minute.

 

“Shoot, I gotta go.” She gestures, breaking the building ice. “Uhm, goodnight? You probably should go home by now.”

 

“I have stuff to do so… yeah.” The girl nods again.

 

Kobayashi does the same, before her feet slowly, heavily dragged itself across the tiles. “Anyways, take care, bye!”

 

She technically dashed towards the school gate, leaving the girl in the dark hallways of the school.

 

____________________________________

 

Her phone kept on buzzing ever since she got home. Mostly it’s just about Manaka rambling about Risa or Yuuka about Akanen and honestly sometimes it’s just tiring for now.

 

She closes her lamp but the light won’t disappear. The moon was still blinding as _that night_ , but there are no stars anywhere.

 

It’s just.. there.

 

Just the two of them, and it’s pretty-looking, light emanating on her windowsill as she stares at nothingness.

 

________________________________________

 

“Yui!” Yuuka beams as you enter the room. “Great timing!”

 

“What’s up?” Kobayashi starts before she began setting up. Yuuka’s smile was unusually wide, either something great happened or she got laid _,_ but she guesses it’s the former. “You’re unusually happy today.”

 

“Well,” She starts, and her smile turns into a larger grin. Yui turns to Manaka and Risa, who only shrugged and smirked. Something fishy is going on, and they’d better tell or else they’d learn the lesson the hard way. “You won’t believe what just happened.”

 

“What?”

 

“Well, remember yesterday where we waited late for the auditions and noone came?”

 

“...Yeah.” Yui follows. “I was.. practically here.”

 

“Manaka, Risa and I were alone after you left; but then-- you know the feeling where you think something’s not working out but then suddenly it just.. happens?”

 

“The what?”

 

“The thing!”

 

Kobayashi blinks, her eyes alternating from Yuuka to Manaka and Risa and vice versa. “...and?”

 

Yuuka inhales, before continuing, “I always thought I’d never encounter it but it’s real--”

 

“Yuuka.”

 

“We have a new band member!” The older girl ecstatically raised her arms in joy, “We got a pianist!”

 

“B-But there’s--” Yui was interrupted when Yuuka embraces her, jumping up and down. Has she been like this even before? Because she can’t recall the time when she’s this happy when she, Manaka and Risa agreed to join her band. “..Yuuka!”

 

Yuuka stops, and the younger girl holds her by the shoulders, to calm her. “I don’t get it, I thought noone came by yesterday.”

 

“That’s what _we_ thought too.” Risa chimes in, “But a few minutes after you left suddenly there’s a knock on the door and, well, she’s been great.”

 

“Did she play anything?”

 

“Well, for a start she played Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.” Manaka tilts her head as if thinking, “I thought she’s just self-taught until she played more complex pieces;   _La Campanella_ for example.”

 

“Christ, it’s like she sold her soul to the devil for that kind of skill.” Manaka acted as if there were shivers through her spine, and Yui slowly nodded for her brain to process everything.

 

“Oh and, she’s cute as hell, to be honest. “ Risa adds, “She has this, _I’m-cute-but-don’t-mess-with-_

 _me-when-I-play-piano_ sort of vibe. She’s totally different when she plays.”

 

Risa and Manaka acts as if they knew her personally, judging by their statements and how they’d describe her. But then again, Yui wasn’t actually _there_ when it all happened, so she has no right to say something beyond those.

 

“ _Anyway,”_ Yuuka joins, “I’m sure you’ll be happy to meet her too.”

 

Yui smiles, “Kinda excited to meet her with all those things you’ve been saying though-- so what’s her name?”

 

“Oh!” Yuuka beams even wider, “You’ll be happy to hear this! She’s Ima--”

 

The bell suddenly rings-- the loud kind of bell that Yui barely heard the name slip from Yuuka’s lips. “Wait I didn’t hea--”

 

“Oh shit, Yuuka it’s Social Science class.” Manaka alarms, “We gotta bail.”

 

The oldest of the trio immediately stops and grabs her bag from the podium and went straight towards the door, the other two following suit. “We’ll tell next time, see ya at club Yui!”

 

And the door slides close.

 

“I didn’t even knew her name,” Yui mumbles, alone inside the room, her sax set up on her hands. “...And I thought it’s band practice.”

 

She sighs, before she places the sax back inside the case. It’s her vacant, around three hours with nothing to do, nothing to play with. She’s not in the mood to practice either.

 

And then she remembers the school rooftop; the only place where she sought peace of mind.

 

_________________________________________

 

It’s humid, but it’s windy; it’s peaceful but her head was already whirling around, and around, and around. Maybe the heat was too strong, but that wouldn’t be the case now, would it?

 

It’s like being inside a shoujo manga with no actual plot, just the heroine, no guys (or would there?), and the infamous, cliched rooftop scene which is something she’ll spare because honestly it’s really really nice. It sets the mood for relaxing, it may be humid but the wind is a nice contrast. Plus, the sky isn’t blocked. She could see the clouds leisurely floating, circling the Earth.

Of course she’d prefer the darkness of night, but the day is a bliss. The birds were awake and even sought food, creating nests and tending to its hatchlings, and she feels the day is just— natural. It makes daytime go by fast without a hitch, like it’s already instilled in everyone’s routine and it feels like everything would spiral out if by chance the sun suddenly disappeared.

  


It’s 1:57 and her vacant ends in two hours at most.

  
  


A little nap wouldn’t hurt now that she’s sitting at beside the deck where noone could see her as they enter. Again, it’s that time where the sky does its thing and it sets the mood, the breeze gently caressing her skin, waking the sleepiness inside her. It’s nice, having this atmosphere around, like someone cradling her until she dozes off.

 

Her eyelids were heavy, her vision was blurry,

  


and she sees this hazy image of a girl sitting down to her level…..

 

.

.

.

.

.

.

  


..A girl?

  
  


“Wha--!” Yui scrambles on the floor, her back pushing the wall behind her as if it could do anything helpful. _A fucking girl. At the rooftop. With her._ “Who the fuck are--”

 

“Wait wait it’s not what you think!” The girl exclaims, her hands raised in the air, equally shocked. “God I’m so sorry, were you sleeping?”

 

“No, I’m counting elephants.”

  


“Did I disturb you or do you still remember which count you stopped?”

 

“Oh for crying out loud, of course I’m sleep—”

 

Kobayashi felt her vision suddenly sharpen, and the glint present in those eyes looked all too familiar, almost the same as the girl before—no, even brighter, much more intricate, byzantine; unnatural. “—ping.”

 

As if on cue, the girl squints her eyes as if remembering something. “Wait, aren’t you..”

  
  


And then it clicked.

  


Ah. Yes. How could she forget?

  
  


“You’re the girl from the other night.” Kobayashi remembers. “Bumped into me, scores scattering…”

 

“..Oh, _yeah,_ ” She grimaces, probably still feels cringey about how cheesy that night became. “That was my fault. I was in a hurry I forgot there’s someone at the hallway that late.”

 

“It’s my fault too anyway. Well, _our_ fault. My friends pulled me on some shit I didn’t know and the next thing I remember was my mom furiously texting me to come home.”

 

“I guess we’re equal.” the shorter girl grins, “Can I make it up to you?”

 

“The what?”

 

“For clumsily bumping into you.”

 

Kobayashi blinks. The offer sounded genuine, and it seems like her vacant will end in an hour and a half;

  
  


There’s still enough time.

  
  
  


______________________________

  


So far the day has been boring but now Yui finds herself laughing with a girl she just barely knew. They were outside, off-campus, particularly in Shibuya’s Central Street, currently waiting in line in front of a crepe stand; and Yui immediately regrets hating the heat. It’s actually a nice contrast, and at least the line isn’t that long.

 

“Oof, there’s a lot on their menu.” She says, her jaw a bit dropped, unsure of what to order, “What are you gonna get?”

 

“Just chocolate.”

 

“I thought you’re more of a cheesecake type, though.”

 

“Unless you want someone barfing on the way back, then sure, I’ll get it.” Kobayashi snickered.

 

The girl laughs, loud, and the kind that her eyes almost disappear; and her somehow crooked teeth suits so cute on her. She finds herself smiling at the girl, for whatever reason that is.

 

She got the chocolate she wanted, and the girl helps herself with the strawberry she ordered. Hers has extra whipped cream and Kobayashi got brownie stuffings despite insisting that chocolate syrup was enough. The ice cream was practically frozen, and the way it melts in her tongue was magic. It’s creamy, just the way she liked it.

 

“How come I haven’t tried this before?” She exclaims, and Kobayashi laughs. “I pass by that shop a lot of times before, but never thought about trying it.”

 

“Well, now you had.”

 

  
“Yeah, thanks to you— oh, they served a hefty amount of brownies on yours huh.” She eyes the pastry on her crepe, then at her, then back at the crepe.

 

“Everything’s all chocolatey on mine, you can get some if you want.” Yui hands her serving to her, and she uses her spoon to grab a few.

 

“Aah! Yours tastes great!” She says as she takes another bite from the brownie, the moist texture along with the whipped cream was divine, and soon she finds herself combining it with her strawberry. Yui just chuckles as she watch her enjoy her share.

  
  


“Does this brand of string do better than the one I usually use?”

 

“I don’t know Risa, I don’t play guitar.”

 

The familiar name and the familiar voice came from the music shop just beside them. While her companion enjoys her food, she whipped her head to her side, and sure enough; the strikingly blonde and the familiar, brown colour didn’t take too much time for her to add two and two together.

 

“The original classical pianos produce sound because of the strings behind it, Manaka.”

 

“Well _technically_ even if you’re correct do those strings even look detachable to you?”

  


Kobayashi glances at her watch.

  
  


_3:27_

  
  


Holy shit.

 

“I dunno, I don’t pl—” The voice stopped in its tracks, and so did Yui. “Manaka, twelve o’clock,”

 

“What the hell are you saying? It’s already half-past four, dumbass.”

 

“Are you fucking with me right now?” Risa shoots a sharp glare to a confused Shida, glancing back and forth to her and behind her. “The direction!”

 

“Are you on glue? Since when did time became dire--” Shida turns her head and sees a familiar figure. “Wait, isn’t that…”

 

“It’s her, isn’t it?”

 

“No doubt.”

 

“What is she doing here? Practice starts in twenty minutes.”

 

“I guess she’s… oh.” Manaka points at the girl, to which Risa swats her hand immediately to avoid getting noticed. “She’s— she’s with a girl…”

 

Risa squints to clear her vision. “Seems like it’s a girlfriend to me.”

 

The duo continued to stare, thankfully Yui was subtly turning her face towards the other direction, far from the two. How could she forget? She was so caught up with _someone_ that she forgot to reconsider the fact that the three would be done by their classes by now. She even skipped the class after her vacant and now, here she is.

 

“Where do you wanna go aft— hey!”

 

“Shh, come with me.” Kobayashi finishes her crepe first before holding her wrist, briskly walking through the crowd, away from the duo. Soon she finds themselves on the platform of the train they were about to take, and the girl right by her just finished her food.

 

“I kinda feel stuffy when I’m around too many people. Sorry about that.”

 

“But we’re taking the train, there’s people inside, right?”

 

Unconsciously, a small laugh escapes from her lips, one that got the girl confused, but the confused smile was funnier. “Why are you laughing?”

 

“Nothing, it’s just— it’s ironic, that I say I’m scared of too many people around me yet I’m with a stranger I just knew the other night.”

 

“I guess I’m not some stranger now, then, am I?” She smiles just exactly as the train arrives.

 

The ride was quiet, she’s beside her on the train full of people, and _her_ hand was resting on her knee, and it’s pretty distracting. But then again, the girl beside her was peacefully sound asleep, she had no reason to be distracted at all.

 

She fished her phone out and opened a star chart. Constellations. It’s a habit whenever she’s bored, and she’s in a closed space, no sky in her view; she never forgets about the stars. It’s more like a routine, or a hobby, actually it’s still unknown even to her, and she just can’t seem to last a day without looking outside the window at night.

 

“What’s that?”

 

Kobayashi flinches in surprise, she turns her head beside her, and— she’s not asleep. “I thought you’re sleeping.”

 

“I listen to music with my eyes closed,” She pops an earbud from her other ear, “See?”

 

“Oh. Well, this one’s a star chart. Whenever it’s daytime and I can’t look at the sky, I just try to predict the stars later at night so I could search for them later while I’m in my room. It’s a weird habit of mine.” She purses her lips to prevent her from saying anything else, to avoid freaking her out. “I know it’s.. pretty weird, yeah.”

 

Instead, she closes in and holds the phone as well, her hand on top of hers, and she inhales, deep. “That’s so awesome! I didn’t know this thing exists!”

 

Yui exhales in surprise, “Most people wait to look and observe them at night; but for me I kind of play with it by predicting what constellations would appear and try to find them later.”

 

Her face turned into an expression of amazement, “Well, were you able to find what you need to find every night?”

 

“I’m pretty confident, yeah.” She replies, albeit a bit shy.

 

The train stops, the doors open and people leave, some stayed, some new came in. Yui fiddles with her phone with _her_ beside her, watching as she navigated through the app with evident expertise. It looked difficult at first, but she just got used to it. Plus, it’s her first time getting observed while doing something as weird as this, because Manaka and Risa’s previous attempts to look at her were futile.

 

A few minutes passed and the train slowed down their stop. She fishes her phone back in her blazer, and they step out onto the platform.

  


“Do you have somewhere to go?” She asks, and Yui nods her head. “Some stuff, yeah. Gotta go and meet with my friends.”

 

“I guess this is where we part, huh.” Yui felt her stomach sink. She wanted to walk slowly past the school gate, but it’s late, and they’re already at the entrance. “See you next time, then? I have some club stuff to do as well.”

 

She waves goodbye, and Kobayashi makes her way to the music room. Somehow thinking about what happened during the whole time was fun. It was nice. _Too_ nice that she forgot that she’s smiling as she stepped inside the room.

 

The whole view of Yui smiling with no context was weird for the duo waiting for her inside, they exchanged glances, before asking, “Where were you?”

 

That seemed to bounce her off her thoughts, and the smile disappears, and she shakes her head no. “N-Nothing, just, remembered a funny joke.”

 

She lied, and she knew they saw right through her. Well, maybe not Yuuka, she’s busy arranging papers far from music scores; presumably her assignment.

 

“Oh yeah?” Manaka scoffs, “Do tell.”

 

Kobayashi frowns, “What?”

 

“C’mon! The room’s pretty bland and all,” Risa shrugs, “If you didn’t tell any then you’re lying..” she slowly trails off with a stupid smile on her face.

 

The younger girl waves her hand in dismissal, “It’s actually not that funny if you think about it—”

 

“How can you be sure if we haven’t heard it yet?” Risa waggles her eyebrows, and Manaka laughs, that loud, annoying laugh echoing throughout the room.

 

Finally, Yui stops, a look of disapproval present on her face. “Okay, you know what? Fine. But don’t judge me for not being as _‘interesting’_ as you two.”

  


“Oh _trust me,_ ” Manaka chimes, “ _This_ will be interesting.”

  


She stares at them, their faces smug with those mischievous grins on their lips. She sighs for the nth time; and before anything else happens: “Why— Why does a music teacher need a ladder?”

 

Risa and Manaka exchanged glances again, back at Yui, then back at them, trying to guess what might be the answer. Manaka furrows her eyebrows, and Risa tilts her head, while both of them hum a long ‘hmmm’ with their hands stroking their chins. All dramatic and everything.  “Why?”

 

“Because,” Kobayashi inhales, and she sees the two smile and their faces lean a bit close in anticipation. These two has always been the reason of her embarrassments, the only two fucks her patience was able put up with since childhood. She bit her lip and avert her gaze from them, embarrassed, before continuing: “She— she can’t.. She can’t reach the high note.”

 

Suddenly, Yuuka’s papers ripping in half were the ones echoing throughout the room. Yuuka stops, her eyes on Yui, and so did the other two.

 

Silence ensued, Risa and Manaka’s smug grins completely wiped out, Yuuka blankly staring at Kobayashi for an uncomfortable amount of seconds, quiet, and the younger girl covers her face with her hand in defeat.

 

“Wow.” Risa breaks the ice, before turning to Manaka, “You’ve been telling me jokes for years and yet you’re still far, far _worse_ than her.”

 

“Hey!” Manaka retorts, slapping Risa’s shoulder, “Okay then, you know what? I think I’ll pull my best trick yet.”

 

Yui assumes this wouldn’t go any better, but Risa beats her to it: “Fire away.”

 

“What’s a difference between a musician and a fourteen inch pizza?”

 

The younger girl eyes at the cheeky guitarist, exasperated. She warns, but Risa just grins. “What?”

 

Manaka inhales, a look of triumph evident on her face, _“A pizza could feed a family of four.”_

 

Risa’s grin disappeared and Yui’s lips were twitching up and down, unsure of what expression to make. They exchanged glances, and the sax player grimaced. “That’s awful.”

 

“You’re awful.”

 

“ _ANYWAYS,”_ Yuuka slams her hand on the podium, startling the trio at the same time. “You three are _equally_ awful.”

 

“Okay,” Manaka rebutts, “At least not as _awful_ as your pridefully-claimed ‘soundproof’ rooms at your place.”

 

“What are you talking about?”

 

“If you want me to go deeper in detail, then..” She looks at Risa with another mischievous grin, but Risa’s face was the opposite. Her eyes widen and she gestures Manaka to shut up, but it was useless. “I’m sorry Yuuka, but you really, _really,_ have to tone it down with Akane sometimes.”

 

Yuuka’s jaw dropped a bit in surprise; she can’t believe what she was hearing.

 

Only Yui was the one clueless among them.

 

“What happe—”

 

“Shh,” Risa claps her hands on each of Yui’s ears, “I’m sorry, you don’t need to hear this.”

 

“What tone down?”

 

“Oh please, really, Yuuka?” Manaka suddenly bursts out laughing, “ _‘ Oh yes, Akane, Ride me like a fucking horse’?_ Was that some kind of kink play? _”_

 

Risa was shaking, her lips pursed stifling a giggle as Manaka continued to laugh; Yuuka’s face was priceless, and the growing flush on her cheeks meant a thousand words. She places a hand on her head, astonished.

 

“Hey, you looked happy the day after that, I wouldn’t be a killjoy alright?”

 

Yuuka frowns.

 

Risa removes her hands from Yui’s ears, and the latter emerges, suspicious, but she wouldn’t pry if someone had to cover her hearing during a conversation. All four looked at each other with no words said, awkward silence rising inside the room.

 

Suddenly, Yuuka’s phone buzzed. “Imaizumi’s on her way. She said she went out with someone so it took her long.”

 

“Imaizumi?” Yui tilts her head. “The new member?”

 

“Ah, yes, I forgot. She’s the pianist we recently took in.” Yuuka says, “You’ll love her!”

 

Manaka furrows her eyebrows as if she remembered something. “Oh! Risa, she really did go out with someone awhile ago!”

 

“She got a girl, alright.” Risa chuckles, “Didn’t know she swings that way.”

 

The oldest seemed confused. “What do you mean? Awhile ago?”

 

“We saw her at Shibuya awhile ago, Risa brought some G-strings—”  Risa elbows her side, and she winces, before she could continue, “—Strings, I mean, in G chords, and we saw her with a girl outside the shop, eating crepe.”

  


Kobayashi Yui’s stomach dropped.

  


After a series of knocks were heard, the door slides open before the youngest girl could even register everything inside her head. “Hi I’m—”

 

The thin lips.

 

The cheerful voice.

 

The seemingly familiar wide eyes met with hers, the bright, hopeful looking, irises she has been looking at since the time at the rooftop.

 

“—back.”

 

“Imaizumi!” Sugai opens her arms as if to welcome her. “What took you so long?”

 

“Uhm,” the girl casually shrugs, “Just, well, _things._ ”

 

The former holds her wrist and pulls her inside the room, closing the door behind her. “Let’s leave it that way for now. I want you to meet our saxist, she’s younger than any one of us, but her skill set is above ours.”

 

“Hi,” the short girl waves her hand, “I didn’t know you’re.. here.”

 

“Uhm, same,” Kobayashi bites her lip, feeling both nervous and tense. “I’ve been here since last year, though.”

 

“Guide me through everything, then?” the girl grins, wide. “After seeing you here I’ve never been more excited to be in a club.”

 

“..Tha— that’s…” Kobayashi felt heat rushing to her cheeks. “Don’t worry.”

  


“Yui.” Yuuka motions, and both of their heads whipped at her direction. The she suddenly bursts out laughing without any context at all. Right. She totally forgot. “I mean, Kobayashi.”

 

“Wait why my surname? Formalities?”

 

“Imaizumi.”

 

“..Yes?”

  


Yuuka inhales. “Risa, Manaka, I forgot to tell you we’ll have two Yuis in our group starting today.”

 


	2. Two

Practicing and playing sax was the only thing she had interest in aside from her weird habit of looking at the stars. But for some reason, this day, she felt queasy. And it’s either it’s _that time of the month_ or something else. Manaka’s painfully annoying today, as she points out.

 

“Zuumin~” Manaka purrs like a cat, “Help me with these chords, please?”

 

She pops a vein. _Zuumin_ stands from her stool and approaches Manaka. “What is it?”

 

“This part from the score looks impossible to play. You know pianists work, you know, they can do it with ten fingers.” Manaka winks, but Imaizumi tilts her head in confusion. “Eh? What does it mean?”

 

The sly girl freezes in disappointment. As usual, flirting with Imaizumi wasn’t looking good; despite her pretty mature appearance, she can be light headed at times. Risa just sighs, exasperated, while Kobayashi was quiet, still uneasy.

 

For no reasons whatsoever, the entire course folding in front of her wasn’t as interesting as before. She’d find herself ignoring them or try to mind her own business, unsure if that was of any help, but hey, it kinda works. She just had to focus on her measures. Yuuka’s entrance exams are fast approaching, as well as the school festival; and the fact that they’re the ones breaking the ice on that day was pressuring.

 

“Zuumin?” Yui wasn’t able to hold her curiosity back. “Was that an old nickname?”

 

“Oh, no, it isn’t.” _Zuumin_ beams from Manaka’s corner, “Mona made it.”

 

“Mona?” Risa interrupts, “Wow, I didn’t know you two are already close.”

 

Manaka clicks her tongue and winks, pointing both at Kobayashi and Watanabe in a suave manner. “Just your family friendly Shida Manaka in the house!”

 

“Pffff,” Risa waves her hand in dismissal, “That’s even worse than your joke the other week.”

 

“So,” Kobayashi starts, trying not to look _too_ obvious. “How did you two become close?”

 

“Well mostly because we play the same instrument, really.” Shida answers, “And since I’m not that much of a pro as Imaizumi I’d always ask her for help most of the time.”

 

“That’s.. That’s nice.” Yui quietly answers. Shit. Was she too obvious?

 

“How about you?” Shida grins with troublesome intent, “You and Zuumin looked pretty close.”

 

Kobayashi shrugs as she fixes her saxophone inside her case. “Ah, well—”

  


All of a sudden, a sudden tug on her blazer sleeve managed to stop her. Maybe it’s because of how Imaizumi smiled at her, or maybe Imaizumi herself. Either way, she forgot what else she needed to say.

 

“That’s a secret.” the older Yui turns her head towards Watanabe and Shida, a satisfying smirk present on her lips.

 

“Eeeh?” Watanabe furrows her eyebrows. “Now I’m curious.”

 

“Now now, Kobayashi- _san,”_ Gah. The honorific sounded bland and distant. It’s like she’s different from the other two; the two coolest people at school. But of course there’s nothing wrong in that. Kobayashi thinks she’s just too boring and straightforward that no one would even dare try to befriend someone as dull as her; and being with someone as interesting and funny as Shida and Watanabe are easier to approach, proven and tested.

 

That might just be the most pathetic thing she ever thought of.

 

“Are you gonna go?”

 

“Well, yeah. I’m cutting practice for now, I honestly don’t feel like playing today; I’m sorry.”

 

“Aww.” Risa pouts, “Something on your mind recently?”

 

Kobayashi forgot any words to say. She subtly looks at the shorter girl beside her, unaware, before shaking her head no.

 

“Well, whatever floats your boat, I guess.”

 

“Take care, Yui.”

 

“Wait!”

 

All three heads whipped at the source of the voice.

 

“I’m going home too.”

 

“Eeeh?!” Risa’s voice was unusually high. “You too?”

 

“Hehe. Mom just texted me to come home.”

 

The two looked each other in the eyes, before nodding, but not without the evident exchange of thoughts. “Take care, then.”

 

The saxist was practically frozen in place, but Imaizumi’s warm hand caught hers as she gently led her out of the room. As the door slides close, the latter places her index finger on top of her lips, before winking. “Can’t let them know we went out on a date.”

 

Kobayashi’s heart leapt to her throat. _A date?_

 

“Pardon?”

 

“Oh, nothing, it’s just a prank I’m planning to pull. They didn’t know how we became close, remember?”

 

_Of course it’s just a prank. Stupid Kobayashi Yui._

  


And what’s with the recent whirlwind of emotions?

  


“Anyway, do you want to go somewhere together?” Zuumin brings up, her hand never leaving Pon’s. “I mean, you said you didn’t want to play today, so let’s go to the arcades.”

 

“That’s still playing, you know.” Kobayashi snickers.

 

“Well you didn’t say anything about playing games, so…” Imaizumi trails. “Oh forget it, you’ll still come with me.”

 

“Isn’t your mom texting you to come home?”

 

“I could always lie about something if I wanted other things.” The older girl grins, as she pulls the poor, younger girl towards the school gate. “Now let’s have fun!”

 

Kobayashi couldn’t say anything else. How can she turn her down? Not with that damned smile on her face, of course.

  
  
  
  
  


Meanwhile, unbeknownst to the two, the other two were silently watching them from the music room’s window as their little figures fast approached the school gate.

 

“Maybe you went a bit overboard awhile ago, Manaka.”

 

“Nah, I think it’s just right.” Manaka’s confident answer was unusual to Risa. “Yui’s still in denial after all.”

 

“What if we’re mistaking it? I mean…” Risa’s words stop as she saw her partner glancing at the window, seriousness evident on her face. She looks at Kobayashi’s face from their place: she’s smiling.

 

“It’s been awhile since she smiled that way,” Shida starts, “You know how she is. If no one would push her, then who will?”

 

“Yui’s on her own pace.”

 

“In that case… we’d help her, right?”

 

For the first time in many years, Watanabe Risa remembers again who Shida Manaka really is. Behind her comedic facade was this, considerate and down-to-earth being. Even with how annoying she might be, or how cheeky she usually is; the old Manaka both her and Kobayashi grew to knew was still there.

 

Unconsciously, Risa’s lips curl into a smirk.

 

“You never change.”

 

Deep inside, Manaka was still unsure whether to tell _her_ immediately, or sit it out and wait for things to unfold. Although the longer they wait, the more painful it is.

  


It’s a difficult decision.

  
  
  


The duo stares from outside the arcade. Imaizumi pulls her again inside, leading her to somewhere she doesn’t know. They stopped at a crane game, and the older girl squints her eyes as she searched for something inside the glass case. That _something_ must’ve caught Imaizumi’s attention, because now she’s jumping up and down like a kid.

 

“Look look look!!” She tugs the sleeve of Kobayashi’s blazer. “They had the Shinchan I want!”

 

“Shinchan?” The younger girl couldn’t believe her ears. “Crayon Shinchan?”

 

“Who else?” Imaizumi beams as she took out a coin purse filled with too much coins that it barely closed without the zipper almost popping off, “It’s the limited edition I wasn’t able to get before.”

 

Seeing her senior’s adorable interest on her childhood character made her smile a little. She watches as she inserts a coin inside the slot, maneuvering the crane; her expression leaning more on desperation rather than determination, and this happens for more than ten times before Imaizumi slams the controller in frustration.

 

“Damn,” She chuckles, “This game is stubborn.”

 

“Maybe you need a strategy, rather than recklessly slipping pennies inside the slot.” Kobayashi suggests, “And you press the button too quickly, you should use your time wisely.”

 

“Are you good at this?”

 

“Not really. Manaka and Risa are usually the ones who get alot, while I just watch.”

 

“Aw, maybe you can!” The older Yui offers the coin purse to Pon. “Have you tried?”

 

“Yes, but—”

 

Imaizumi says nothing else, as she places the wallet over her junior’s hand. “It’s unfair that only I get to play.”

 

The saxist sighs in defeat. She slips a coin, and she begins to maneuver the claw. To be honest, she never had any experience in this game aside from watching the two idiots enjoy the game. She’s more of a rhythm game player or the little hockey the three of them enjoyed when they were little.

 

Thanks to Yui’s previous attempts, Shinchan’s head was poking out of the toy crowd, making it easier for her to aim. The game rang five seconds remaining, and she presses the button just in time.

 

The claw manages to grab the head, but it gave up midway and now the doll’s lying on top of the mountain of stuffed toys.

 

The machine blares an annoying chime of defeat.

 

“Dang.” Kobayashi laughs, “That’s annoying.”

 

The two of them laughed shortly, before she returns the purse to her senior. “You should try again.”

 

And she tries again. But then Zuumin’s hand holding the joystick suddenly turned heavier, and it’s warmer; before she knew it, Pon already has her hand on top of hers. The shorter girl turns her head to face her; Kobayashi’s eyes blank in all seriousness.

 

“I just noticed the claw has three prongs, so it should grab the stuffier part of the doll.” She says, as she guides Imaizumi’s hand. “That should hit the center, so it should be fine.”

 

The machine signals for last five seconds. Imaizumi smiles before she presses the button; fingers crossed.

  
  
  
  
  


_Ping!_

  
  
  


“Waaaaah! It’s so cute!! Look!” Zuumin raises the doll in front of Pon’s face, “Isn’t it cute?”

 

Before the younger girl could answer, Imaizumi immediately envelopes her into a tight embrace. And the feeling of her arms around her neck was sending her heart into hysterics, her blood quickly rushing to her cheeks and she couldn’t move. The shock was immobilizing.

 

Soon, the embrace loosens, and the cold seeps back in. Pon was already clawing her bag secretly, unsure of what to feel.

 

“This needs a photo,” Zuumin smiles, her teeth showing, and it’s the cutest thing ever. “Our first photo together!”

 

“Huh? W-Wait—” As usual, Imaizumi cuts her off before she could even say a word.

  
  


_A photo with her_.

  


Somehow she felt her stomach churning. Her senior’s already setting up the booth and other stuff that looked alien to her. Weird. She never saw Shida and Watanabe entering this kind of booth. Was it new?

 

“Smile!”

 

Nonetheless, despite how unfamiliar everything was, her lips unconsciously curled. It felt so natural, that she never knew anything about this, yet knowing her senior was there, and how unexplainably glad she is to see her smiling, it just all comes down to it. Her smile was something else. Imaizumi beside her, a photo with her, going to arcades with her, winning a stuffed toy she wanted.

 

Nothing _else_ could top this kind of euphoria. This fluttery feeling that sits on her chest was more than enough of an explanation that is in fact, _happiness._

  


And it’s bad.

  


She felt like her heart was gonna burst any second.

 

____________________________________________________________________________

  


“Alright guys, practice ends here.”

  


Yuuka claps just as the echoes of the instruments died down. Manaka was fixing the cords of her keyboard, Risa re-tunes her guitar, same with Yui, and the older Yui just sits at the corner of the room, fiddling with her phone.

 

“Yo Pon, do you wanna go somewhere?” Manaka suddenly asks, “It’s okay if you have anything in store for you today.”

 

“I’m actually in the mood for a burger.”

 

“Oh? That’s rare. Yui liking carbs.”

 

“Shaddup, Risa.”

 

“Hai. Hai.”

 

“Why don’t you tag along, Zuumin?”

 

The pianist looks up from her phone with confusing eyes. “Hmm? Are you sure?”

 

The trio looked at each other as if reading each other’s minds. Kobayashi, the closest to her, turns towards her direction, equally confused. “Uh, yes, we are. I mean, we’re friends outside club after all.”

 

Imaizumi beams. “If Yuipon says so then~”

 

Electricity zips down her spine and slowly turned her back, facing Manaka and Risa. Suddenly it got chilly, and heat rushes to her face again. She heaves quite a sigh before picking her bag up beside the sheet stand.

 

Shida and Watanabe exchanged looks once more.

 

“Aren’t you gonna say something back?” Shida rises.

 

“What are you talking about?”

 

“She called you Yuipon? I mean it’s the first time we both heard it.” Risa adds, “considering she just called you _Kobayashi-san_ the other day, something must’ve happened.”

 

“W-Well..” Kobayashi gulps. Imaizumi’s voice rang inside her head. “Maybe she’s just in a good mood?”

 

Once again, the duo exchanged glances. “She’s _always_ in a good mood.”

  


Silence ensued.

  


“..And?”

 

Exasperated, Shida just slumps her shoulders and rolls her eyes. “Whatever. Let’s go to the usual.”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


“We haven’t decided on our setlist yet.” Risa starts as she brings out her tablet. “So I opened up a poll so the student body could vote.”

 

“Eh? Wasn’t Yuuka in charge of the setlist?” Manaka bites on a fry. Kobayashi sips on her cola while Imaizumi was busy biting her burger. Risa raises a brow at the girl beside her.

 

“Yuuka’s busy with her college reviews so I thought I’d jump the gun here.”

 

“Well,” Yui sips again. “What do we got?”

 

“Ohara Sakurako.”

 

Both Kobayashi and Shida choked on their respective foods. “For real?”

 

Imaizumi raises a hand. “Nishino Kana?”

 

“She’s on 3rd.”

 

“Aw.”

 

“Since a lot signed up for the bands, each group could perform a max of two songs, according to the committee.” Risa scrolls further, before reaching for Manaka’s fries. “We’ll pick the first song according to the crowd, then we’ll pick another according to our liking.”

 

“When’s the event anyway?” The younger Yui fishes her phone out for her calendar. Making through the crowdy list from her star chart was quite difficult, but later she finds it eventually.

 

“More or less, two weeks from now.” The brown haired girl clicks her tongue. “Actually, Yuuka might not be able to participate.”

 

“EeeeeeH!?” The trio shouts in unison.

 

“Why are you surprised?”

 

“But Yuuka’s the leader.”

 

“..So?”

 

“..And vocalist.”

 

Risa nods her head. She looks at Manaka, who immediately knew what she meant. Shida sighs.

  


“That’s where Imaizumi comes in.”

  


_“Imaizumi?”_ Dumbfounded, Kobayashi turns her head to the girl beside her. Her head down, watching her thumbs fiddle with each other. “You can sing?”

 

“I-I.. yeah. A bit.” She shrugs, unwelcoming. “But don’t expect too much though.”

 

The younger girl didn’t know what to say. Well, who could believe? She’s been playing along with the band and yet she’s the only one who didn’t knew anything about her at all. Somehow, she couldn’t even look at her, for reasons ranging from skyrocketing admiration or maybe it’s just plain intimidation.

 

“Wow.” Was all she managed to say. The thought of how cool she was made her cheeks flush a bit. “You’re surreal.”

 

Imaizumi chuckles, a slight hue of red appearing on her ears. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

  
  


Meanwhile, the two snickering idiots in front of them slowly met gazes.

 

“Was being _fourth wheelers_ a part of your plan?” Risa mouthed.

 

“How should I know? This wasn’t part of the plan in the first place!”

  


Both turned their heads at the duo in front of them, laughing at whatever inside joke they have.

  


That might not be the plan in the first place, but somehow things are doing well.

 

____________________________________________________________________

  


Kobayashi repeatedly taps on the telescope as she stares at the blank space above.

 

Nothing.

 

No stars at all.

  


It’s already past eight, weather forecasts predict clear skies and no low pressure area brewing within their zone. It’s windy yet still, no stars appeared. However, the moon was just like always, unbothered, unperturbed.

 

Her phone buzzes for the nth time of attempt to ignore Shida’s messages. Her screen glowed, and the stunning icon of Imaizumi appears instead.

  


Somehow she doesn’t feel too disturbed by the lack of stars at the sky tonight.

____________________________________________________________________________

  


“Are you sure we’re allowed to be here?”

 

“Why not? You’re free to use everything whenever you want.”

  


Imaizumi shivers at the sight of strikingly majestic looking instruments around the room. All of it looked _too_ shiny and new, and it feels shameful to use it _just_ for practice.  Yuuka’s piano was nothing like the ones they had at school: free of dust and obviously top-notch. The keys were smooth when pressed, the sound it made was perfectly accurate and clear, luxurious.

 

And the fact that this isn’t the only piano in Yuuka’s home, felt even more threatening.

 

“ _Bösendorfer,_ straight from Vienna.” Yuuka starts, “One of the fewest and authentic.”

 

“Huh? For real?” The smaller girl re-examines the piano. “Holy shit..”

 

“That’s not the only brand around. Steinway, Bechstein, Fazioli; we have at least one at every house we own, and since this is basically our main mansion, all four of these are either stored or displayed. If you want to, I could ask for our helpers to bring them here.”

 

Immediately, Imaizumi shook her head no. “N-No need! This alone is more than enough, really.”

 

Yuuka smiles and turns her attention to her other bandmates. “How about you three?”

 

“I’m good.”

 

“ _Where_ the hell do you get these guitars?!”

 

“Is this room legitimately soundproof?”

 

Yuuka frowns at Shida’s statement, to which she raises both her brows in confusion. “Just checking, just checking.”

 

“So, Risa, was the setlist already done?” Risa whips her head and nods her head, “We let them pick the first song, and the second’s up to us.”

 

“Come to think of it, I never knew what was the second track.” Manaka chimes in, “What did you pick?”

 

“I picked a soundtrack from an anime I used to like. It’s a good one and it’s easily played as a band since it’s meant to be played that way.” She brings out her phone and played the track. “ _Memory of My First Love._ ”

 

The band thoroughly listened. It’s initially agreeable, although Kobayashi felt something wasn’t right. “If we’re gonna play these two songs, I wouldn’t be able to use sax on it. Also both songs needed drums, acoustic and electric guitars, and bass.”

 

Realizing that a lot of changes are needed to make, Risa hesitates. “We can just change the setlist then? If you guys think this might be wrong.”

 

“No,” Yuuka deadpans, “I mean, I know you guys could adapt. Manaka with keyboard, Risa with drums, Imaizumi with acoustic, Yuipon with electric guitar, and— bass.”

 

“..who’s gonna play bass?”

  


The band looked at each other with the same, confused eyes.

  


“Are you sure you’re not allowed, Yuuka?”

 

“Sorry, I’ll have my college review that day..”

  


Five pairs of shoulders slumped in defeat.

 

Yuuka begins to nibble her thumbnail as she began to think of a temporary member. She tried checking for connections but that might be a little too overboard, and the fact that she doesn’t know most of her batchmates aside from Imaizumi and her squad of friends from her same year didn’t help.

 

Risa opens her phone to search for alternative soundtracks.

 

Both Kobayashi and Imaizumi were at their respective phones.

 

Manaka, however, has someone in mind, although Risa would actually kill her for it.

 

Not like they have a choice anyway.

  
  


“How about Nagahama Neru?” Manaka starts, and she could already feel Risa’s terrifying aura exuding throughout the room. “She’s a freelance player, from what I remember.”

 

“Neru?!” Risa’s voice immediately tensed, “Oh no, no, no, you didn’t just said her name, did you?”

 

“We don’t have a choice! And she’s undoubtedly great, don’t you think?”

 

“Nagahama Neru?” Yuuka repeats, “From where? And who?”

 

Shida might be on the verge of getting murdered by Risa if she keeps up, so she passes the question to the girl in front of her.  Kobayashi purses her lips at the sight of Risa fidgeting. Zuumin nudges her side, curiosity present in her eyes. “Was she a former student?”

 

She sighs. “She’s a student from a different school, an old schoolmate back in middle-school, and Risa’s admirer.”

 

Shivers ran down Risa’s spine at the word ‘ _admirer’._

 

Yuuka and Yui lets out a long _‘oooooooh’_ while expectantly looking at their junior. Risa violently shakes her head no. “Can we pick other else?”

 

“What’s her school? Maybe I could ask around for her whereabouts.”

 

“Yuuka!”

 

“So let’s say we don’t track Nagahama, then what’s your game plan?”

 

“Change the setlist.”

 

“We can’t change the list anymore since we submitted it already to the music committee.”

 

“I… didn’t know that.”

  


“So,” Yuuka turns to Shida, “Where could she be?”

 

With her annoying smile plastered on her lips, the latter faces Risa. Watanabe glides the tips of her fingers across her neck, threatening.

 

 

“She’s from Nagasaki.”

 

____________________________________________________________________________

  
  


A week has passed and Neru was still untraceable. Even Yuuka’s best efforts to track her down wasn’t enough. Although the band could still play without a bass, Neru’s participance would’ve been a great help, according to Shida, much to Risa’s demise.

 

The final beat of their chosen song dies down, and they take a breather.

  


“Yuuka, did you receive anything yet?”

 

“...I’m sorry.”

 

As usual, it’s been the same.

  


“Hey, I’m sorry if this is out of topic, but I just noticed we haven’t practiced for our first track yet.” Shida chimes, “It’s Imaizumi who’ll be singing, right?”

 

“..Right..” Imaizumi exhales, nervous. She looks at Kobayashi, who’s been casually eyeing her since the start. “What song?”

 

“ _Chippoke na Ai no Uta.”_ Pon answers, “It’s quite lengthy, but it’s because of instrumentals. And don’t worry about the vocals, you can focus on that.”

 

She exhales again, shakily holding the guitar pick between her fingers. Flashbacks of her childhood began to appear, the ones where she sang, _used to,_ would probably the best word for that.

  


“Let’s go.”

Although still shaky, she starts out smoothly, the chords perfectly adjusted to her fingers on the guitar strings. _Don’t mess this up,_ was all her head could think of, excluding the lyrics engraved in her mind, and she imagines the room with only her inside, solo, only her and the guitar, and leaving the rest to her own imagination.

  


_I_ _kinari utaidashi tari_

_ikinari kisu o shi tari_

_kimi ni wa takusan_

_‘gomen ne’ tte iwa naku cha ne_

 

_Singing all of a sudden,_

_Kissing you all of a sudden,_

_I should say a lot of "I'm sorry"'s to you_

  


Suddenly, her mind went white. The lyrics disappeared from her memory and her finger slips from the guitar; she wasn’t sure if it’s because she transitioned to the wrong chord or her hands were too sweaty and shaky to even perform normally at this rate, but even though she tried to, she just stopped dead in her tracks, her words stuck in her throat.

 

Alarmed, Kobayashi stops and gestured the others as well. She removes the guitar slung over her shoulders and approached Imaizumi.

 

“Hey,” She taps her shoulder, “Are you fine? Or— or are you sick or— can I get you anything?”

  


She looks at her with fear etched on her eyes. “I.. I—I can’t do this.”

 

“No, no you can.” Pon shakes her head, looking at her straight in the eye. “It’s gonna be okay, see? We’re here.” She motions to both Risa and Manaka at the back, to which she turns around, and sees them smiling reassuringly right back at her.

 

“I.. I was just thinking if this might be too soon for me.”

 

“Do you want to stop?”

 

“It’s not like I want to..”

 

“Hey,” She says, holding her by both of her shoulders. For some reason Kobayashi was about to lose her words when a flash of the starry sky reflected right from Imaizumi’s eyes. It looked ethereal, and it was enough to spark something inside her.

 

“I’ll sing with you. Follow my lead, okay?”

  
  


Zuumin nods, and Pon motions the duo behind her.  “We’ll do it by guitar for now.”

  


“I have another acoustic right by the bass,” Yuuka enters the room all of a sudden. “I didn’t know you could sing, Pon.”

 

Although surprised, Pon smiles. She retrieves the guitar, the same color as with Imaizumi’s; she gets a simple feel of it, and it felt good to be back. Sax has always been her forte but guitar gave her a little bit of a different kind of aura.

 

“Oh _please,_ ” Manaka scoffs, “She’s better than most of the music majors in this school.”

  


Imaizumi looks at the younger girl beside her as she tuned her guitar. What is she doing, taking advantage of her junior like this? Wasn’t she supposed to be the older of the two of them? Shouldn’t it be the other way around?

 

She sighs, uneasy. Her junior helping her out in almost everything.

 

It’s almost embarrassing.

  


Pon tests the strings, strums it individually, before slinging the sling over her shoulders.

  


“On three.”

 

She gulps, nodding, nervous.

 

“One, two…”

  


_Boku no sonzai ga_

_kimi no hikari ni kage o otoshi_

_te shimau toshite mo_

 

_Though my existence might_

_cast a shadow into your light_

 

Kobayashi’s was more of a deeper, version of her voice, only sticking to higher alto when necessary. Imaizumi’s vocals lean more on high-pitched, as she rather pulls off a close soprano, but not entirely high as she obviously needed a little bit of a delay to catch her breath, but Pon covers it up almost immediately and unnoticeable, making sure not to waste any beat. Their voices are flawed, but Pon layers her voice just after Zuumin’s, taking care not to overpower, as she remembers that she was there to help, not to overshadow.

  


_Kimi no sonzai wa_

_dare ka o terashitsuzuke te i te hoshii n da_

 

_I wish your existence will continue_

_to shine on someone else’s_

  


Kobayashi could reach a high key, but only for a short moment; she most likely uses it for a certain, highlighted part, or to catch Imaizumi whenever her voice drops a few notches down due to lack of air. But even so, she catches a glimpse of her smiling once she perfectly reached the note she was aiming for, and almost immediately, a rush of anticipation were crawling in her veins, as her voice naturally comes and blends itself along with Imaizumi’s, perfectly in sync, as if feeding off of each other.

  


Worrying for the fast-approaching, high note at the end, Imaizumi begins to fumble on her guitar, and she turns to Yui for help, but the latter just smiles and saves her just in time, before giving her a reassuring grin. She gives way for Zuumin’s re-entry, not missing another beat.

 

_Boku ga i te mo boku ga i naku te mo_

_kimi wa koko de kagayai te_

 

_Whether I’m around or not,_

_You are shining right here, right now_

 

Imaizumi’s voice was, undoubtedly, powerful. Powerful enough that both of their minds went blank. Kobayashi subconsciously remembers the assist she was giving her senior, paying no heed to whatever’s holding her back and freely gives her the high key, constantly staying at her alto at Zuumin’s pace, whenever she needed it.

 

As both of their voices slowly died down, until the very last pulse of the guitar, their voices never broke, only bound, and with at whatever tempo one does, same goes for the other as well.

 

Both of them were heavily out of air, unceasing pants and soft breaths began to reverberate at the space between them, minds whirring with a cluster of unidentified euphoria, bodies building to a crescendo of adrenaline rush. Kobayashi turns to the girl beside her and she loses her breath, but this time it’s not because of their little post-vocal ensemble.

  


She is indisputably, unquestionably talented. A quintessential. _Flawless._  

 

 

 

_She's extraordinary._

  


  


As her mind began to throb, her heart begins to pound painfully inside her chest.

  
  


_Thumping and thumping._

  
  
  


As it began to beat along with the breathing of the girl in front of her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I noticed I'm kind of drifting away from my original concept, but honestly I like this better.
> 
> Sorry if this looks pretty rushed or too long ahaha;;;
> 
> (Time to continue the next chapter!)


	3. Three

It never occured once in her life that by a simple meeting her world would immediately turn the other way around. And it’s been two weeks for heaven’s sakes; two weeks of no sleep, two weeks of prancing around her room at night at a desperate attempt to erase the cloud forming around her thoughts. What happened to the nights she looked forward to, that now became a seemingly endless series of denials and unfortunate events?

 

Ever since that girl barged right into her life without even taking her shoes off, her past came crawling back in.

 

An opposite manifestation of her failures.

 

Kobayashi Yui blankly stares at her ceiling, sweat beading across the temples of her forehead. What was it really, that drove her into such a corner?

  
  


Was it fear for the past, or about the fact that Imaizumi Yui effortlessly tears the walls she’s been trying to build, as her fear for uncertainty begins to rise within the depths of her being?

  
  
  
  
  
  


Yuuka’s lips began to tremble as she sought for words to explain her thoughts. It felt like the room was nothing but a paradise that only the two of them shared; wrapped in their own worlds, protagonists of their own fairytales.

 

She abruptly enters the room with hope plastered on her lips, only to be met with a surprised look upon the younger girl’s face. “P-Pon, you— you didn’t— it was you with Imaizumi, isn’t it?”

 

Stammering, the girl in question awkwardly glances around the room, suddenly aware, conscious. The short haired duo exchanges thoughts, arriving at one conclusion.

 

“Yui—“

 

“Whoops, uh, ah, so uhm, Imaizumi- _san,”_ she inwardly grimaces at the sudden change of attitude, “Y-You did great.”

 

“But I wouldn’t be—“

 

“Nope, that was all _you,_ trust me.”

 

Manaka grimaced, the secondhand embarrassment was slightly getting out of hand. “Yui, it was the both of you, to be frank.”

 

“What?”

 

Risa feels a sweat drip down her cheek. “You really don’t know where this is going, do you?”

 

Pon dryly laughs. “..I don’t.”

 

“Yuipon,” Yuuka sternly says, “I… I want you to sing with her on the festival. I mean, if it helps, this could be your big break.”

 

“Ha!” Kobayashi steps backwards, waving her hands in front of her as if to dismiss. There were too many reasons why she didn’t have to; including the shorter girl looking at her with regret present in her irises. “Nope. No big break, no singing. I was just trying to help.”

 

“Were you trying to help, or was that an excuse?”

 

Manaka, Risa and Yuuka shared a knowing glance at each other. Imaizumi, with her shoulders dropped, tries to extend a hand towards the younger girl, to no avail. “Just tell us if you want or not. We respect whatever you want to happen.” Kobayashi didn’t even hesitate to swat her hand away; it’s as if something else was controlling her. Zuumin flinched, pain evident across her features.

 

Pon looks down and gingerly rubs her arm. “I-I’m sorry.”

 

She expected something along the lines of Manaka grabbing her shirt to let her rethink her decision, or Risa throwing a drumstick against her head and calling her an idiot from across the room; but there were none. Their faces were blank, except Imaizumi, who has this bitter smile on her lips. “But we could’ve… we could’ve…”

 

She unslings her guitar and bravely held the younger girl’s hand, eyes boring into hers. “We could’ve worked out, you know?”

 

And then something snapped within Kobayashi Yui.

 

“Stop.” She says, tone different. She swats the hand away for the second time out of fear, then unslings her guitar and heads directly towards the door. “I’m not feeling well today. We’ll reconvene next time.”

 

As the door slammed shut, Kobayashi Yui dashes towards the large doors of Yuuka’s abode, tears streaming down her cheeks as her feet led her outside the gates, running towards somewhere; just somewhere, as long as it’s far— as long as she’s away from the girl who’s been messing with her head for god knows how long.

 

Imaizumi inhales sharply and places her hands on her hip, looking down in dismay. She gazes upon the faces of the trio who’s been quiet since Pon left, equally shocked and disappointed.

 

Manaka sighed. “Are you ok?”

 

“Y-Yeah, I guess.” The girl couldn’t say more. She just wished she knew what seemed to cause Kobayashi’s sudden distress. “I never knew.”

 

“ _No one_ knew.” Risa deadpans. “I guess you’ll sing alone, then.”

 

“Seems like it, although I kind of hoped she would’ve considered it first.” She then covers her face, her hands shaking, albeit oblivious to the people inside the room. Something trickled upon her palms, and before she knew it; she was crying. “I don’t know anything. When we hang out, it always seemed like I’ve known her for years; but I guess in the end, I don’t really know her.”

 

“That’s Yui.” Yuuka, who was still standing at the corner of the room, interrupts. “Even we don’t know what’s happening inside her mind. That’s how she is.”

 

Imaizumi shrinks to the floor, trying to suppress any more tears that threatened to fall from her eyes. But who was she kidding? It’s no use holding it in when that girl isn’t there to see her break down anyway.

  
  
  
  
  


The next day, Yui didn’t bother coming to school.

 

Then the day after that.

 

And the day after.

  


Shida worriedly sends a flurry of messages in attempt to reach Kobayashi’s LINE, but all of them were deliberately shot down. Risa tried to call, but that’s no use as well. Yuuka tried to visit, but no one answers the door.

 

As for Imaizumi, the least she could do was try to convince the trio to try another attempt, which got tiring since she’s been doing that ever since Pon didn’t bother going to school for several days in a row without any signs of life from her social media and SNS.

 

The festival starts in two days, and everything’s haywire.

 

The only good news, however, was the fact that Neru finally shows up in front of Risa’s door, much to the latter’s chagrin.

  
  
  
  
  


“Yui, you’re gonna be late for school.” Yui’s mom calls from outside the door, hoping her daughter would finally come to and live normally again. “Your friends might be worried about you.”

 

“They won’t.”

 

“Is this one of those times again, Yui?”

 

“No, I swear it’s not.”

 

Kobayashi Yui hugs her pillow tighter, hoping it would absorb the growing uneasiness tugging inside her. Of course she wouldn’t say that one girl caused everything that’s been badly happening to her recently, because she knew she had no right to say it when that girl barely had anything against her.

 

She just wished she wasn’t immature to begin with, and none of this would’ve happened.

 

“I-It’s nothing.”

 

Although she had the urge to tear the door down and embrace her daughter for whatever’s been bothering her recently, she knew _that topic_ was taboo to her ears. “Just take care of yourself, sweetie; and look at the stars whenever you’re down. You used to do that whenever you and your father fought, right?”

 

Yui clutched onto the pillow, tears brimming upon her eyes. 

  


How is she supposed to tell her mother that looking at the stars weren’t the same as before anymore?

  
  
  
  
  
  


“Oh… Neru.”

 

The said girl scoffs and chuckles at the cold greeting. “Really, Risa? Four years and all I get is that half-assed _‘Oh Neru.’_?”

 

“Well _good evening madam,_ if that’s what you want.” 

 

Risa was already on the verge of having the first proper sleep she’s gonna get in between the mess they’re into recently, but then _someone_ had to show up, and she’s much, much, _much_ more obnoxious than a certain Shida Manaka she knew.

 

“Can I go inside?”

 

Risa raises a brow with her half open eyes. It’s waaay dark and nothing good happens at the streets of Tokyo at this time of night. She takes a step back and widens the space from the door, accommodating Neru’s entry. As the latter slips off her shoes and pats it down on an empty space in the shoe rack, Risa notices the calluses present at the heels of her foot.

 

“How did you find my house?” She starts, “And since when did you leave Nagasaki?”

 

“Woah, calm down Tiger, slow down on the questions; so, what’s the menu for tonight?”

 

Slowly, Risa crosses her arms over her chest.

 

Neru bursts into a giggling fit. “Alright, alright. Sugai-san told me—“

 

“Yuuka!?” The younger girl yells, not caring whether she might wake her neighbors or not, “That fuc—“

 

“Anyway,” The country girl interrupts, “she told me you had something to tell me.”

 

Risa froze in her place. “She- She did?”

 

“That’s what she told me.” Neru shrugs, “I had to think about it considering our circumstances, but I guess I’d give it a shot.” She had the urge not to say anything else especially she missed the girl one way or another, but hey, timing is key.

 

Sensing what Yuuka might actually meant, Risa sighs. She looks outside their window before opening the lights to the dining room. “You’re not gonna go home sooner, are you?”

 

The girl shakes her head no, and for some reason, something pleasant began to settle inside Risa. She just shook it off while preparing a cup of hot chocolate at the counter.

 

Neru looks around the room, scanning the place she didn’t expect she’d visit. She never got inside Risa’s house, nor the house they have back at the countryside where she used to reside when they were still young. They had a good chemistry back then, but it’s all just a blur right now— ever since they were labeled as a couple who had too many complications to continue, that is; and no matter how nice it looked inside her head, she knew it was all just a scary past for Risa.

 

While running her fingertips along the dusty crevices of Risa’s antique coffee table, one photo framed on the wall stood above other else.

 

“You didn’t answer my question earlier,” Risa’s voice calls from the kitchen, “How did you find me?”

 

The sudden question releases her from her trance. “Sugai-san gave me your address.”

 

“Really?” Of course Risa perfectly sees through the lie she just wove, because she’s just not fit for lying at all. “Yuuka only knows that I live in our old house here in Chiba, but not specifically where.”

 

Neru doesn’t say anything, as she’d rather stay quiet than answer.

 

“You searched around Chiba all day, didn’t you?” Risa says as she pats the hot chocolate on the table, sitting across Neru. “Despite how large this place was.”

 

Completely lost, Neru drops her shoulders and shakes her head. A small laugh escapes her lips. “You always saw through me.”

 

“Your calluses on your foot did the talking, really.”

 

The older girl glances at her foot, and sure enough, there were small calluses present on her heels, sore. She grimaced.

 

“When did you leave your hometown?”

 

“A year ago.”

 

“Where do you live now?”

 

“Meguro.”

 

 _Meguro._ Risa thought. If she was in Meguro all along, why did she have to act like she still lived in Nagasaki? Neru didn’t look like she was lying too. “There were a lot of Watanabe’s around the area, so I had to knock at each one of them hoping it’ll be you.”

 

 _Who in their right mind would do that?_ The younger girl couldn’t grasp what exactly was this girl was thinking, but she was still fortunate enough that she didn’t ran into anything or anyone that would cause her harm deep at this night, because that’ll be another story she wouldn’t bother imagining. “Why didn’t you just ask Manaka?”

 

Neru sips on her cup. “I just like the thrill of meeting you by myself. It’ll sound much more romantic, don’t you think?” 

 

Risa pops a vein. If she’s talking about meeting a serial killer hiding around the neighborhood, then yes, it’s thrilling. “If you think that’s gonna work on me, then you’re wrong.”

 

“Right,” Neru sips again, “I just wanted to see how you’d react, but I didn’t think you’d forget about it someday.”

 

“Almost.” Risa mutters under her breath.

 

“So, about the thing you wanted to tell me,” the older girl’s tone turned serious, setting the cup down on the coaster. “What is it?”

 

Watanabe heaves a large sigh as she draws imaginary circles upon the surface of the table. “W-Well, to start, our band’s gonna perform at the school festival two days from now. We’re kind of in a mess lately, and undermanned, so I was kind of hoping you could play bass just this time. Don’t worry, we’ll pay your services.”

 

It took a long time before Neru could come up with an answer. Part of her wanted to play and tease her about it, but Risa’s face looked kind of sullen for someone who needs a favor. “Before I agree..”

 

“What do you need?”

 

“No, no, I just wanted to know… if you’re still friends with Shida and Kobayashi-san.”

 

“I don’t why you’re asking me this, but yeah. We’re still friends.”

 

“I see.” She trails off, stuck in another trance. “That’s nice… but something’s wrong with you guys recently, right?”

 

Risa releases another sigh. “Y-Yeah, Yui’s having this dilemma about a girl she just met. She’s our new recruit, and they seem to get along pretty well. Three days ago we were rehearsing, our new recruit had difficulty singing, and all of a sudden…”

 

Neru immediately knew what happened, judging by the look that appeared across Risa’s face. “Even I didn’t know what got to her. After that, she didn’t go to school for three consecutive days, and we couldn’t even reach her LINE and SNS either. Without her, I don’t think our band would do any better when the festival comes.”

 

After that, the kitchen’s terribly quiet, and the hot chocolate was already cold. Risa’s hand covered her face as she looked down, still in a state of frenzy since she never knew Yui never talked about something she’s been quietly carrying for a long time.

 

Neru knew, but they didn’t know.

 

“You know Yui has to perform solo once before. She used to tell me that that might be the last time she could do something she really want.” Risa looks up, confused. “Her voice couldn’t handle the pressure of performing in front of people, no matter how much she loved it. It’s a sad paradox.”

 

“H-How? She- She never told us— Manaka and I— anything!”

 

“Because you two wouldn’t understand.” Neru flatly says. “Telling you meant that it could be used against her. She didn’t want you to waste time encouraging her to do something that was impossible for her.”

 

“But if you love something, you gotta do whatever it takes to achieve it!”

 

“She never needed to do something,” Nagahama could see her reflection from the already bland cold chocolate, wondering if this was actually the correct thing to say.

  
  


“She just needed to meet someone who was a direct impersonation of the fear she was running away from.”

  
  
  
  
  
  


For the first time in three days, Yui had the urge to eat, but her sister nor her mother wouldn’t bring anything to her room unless she comes out first. So now she’s at the kitchen at midnight, searching for Doritos inside the pantry. All she had was a day old bread and a strawberry jam which was a staple to most of her deserts; but nothing would go right without Doritos.

 

Just as she found a half-empty bag of the said chips at the bottom of the stock, presumably hidden by her sister, a sudden knock on the door scares the living hell out of her wit’s end.

 

She tries to ignore it, thinking maybe it’s just a fluke; but another knock comes, this time it’s stronger and much more determined.

 

With brows scrunched and a slice of bread in between her lips, she opens the door and the person she least expected was standing by her doorway, clad in a shirt and sweatpants with a jacket zipped just up to her chest.

 

There was no time for her to react, because just as the girl sees her she spent no time greeting and just leapt towards her in an embrace. The bread fell from her lips, but she couldn’t pay it any attention because the girl just tightly locked her in an embrace that shocked her back to yesterday. “W-Wait—“

 

The girl shakes her head and buries her face onto her chest, declining any offers to talk. “Zuumin, I can’t close the door.”

 

Imaizumi talks, but her words were just slurs muffled by Kobayashi’s body. “What?”

 

Imaizumi raises her head and looks at her directly into the eyes, pouting. She looked hella mad, but her face was just too cute to be considered anything intimidating. Her pout then turns into a bitter smile once again, before whispering:

 

“I finally found you.”

 

Kobayashi Yui’s heart skipped too many beats to count, and if it wasn’t beating in the first place, it might’ve been stuck to her throat instead. Her hands were getting clammy and she hasn’t returned the embrace yet, not when the strawberry jam is opened and might induce a stain on her senior’s jacket.

 

The heat from her chest rose up to her cheeks, restraining her from saying anything else. What is she doing at this late at night?

 

Ah hell. Before she could ask any more questions, she slowly, albeit hesitantly, placed her arms around Imaizumi’s body. She felt warm. She was warmer than her woollen blanket she got when she was young.

 

Her shirt began to feel warmer too, but that’s because the older girl was already sobbing while clutching onto her shirt. “H-Hey—“

 

The girl responds by tightening her arm around her.

 

Kobayashi taps her at the back, hoping it would somehow help her in any way. They stayed there for a good minute until the girl had calmed down. She pulls away and looks at Yui, before squeezing her cheeks so hard that the girl had to shrink to the floor and wheeze in pain.

 

“That’s for running away.” She says, her bloodshot eyes turning serious. “I’m fine about what happened the other day, but you can’t run from us forever. The band performs in two days.”

 

Two days..?

 

With a palm on her cheek, Kobayashi scampers to find a calendar, and sure enough, a certain date was encircled with a big, fat red marker. “You came all the way just to tell me that?”

 

“I wouldn’t if you’d just answer your phone, dummy.” Imaizumi huffs, crossing her arms across her chest, “You’ve been ignoring our calls, our texts, Yuuka even searched for your address but you weren’t even answering the doorbell.”

 

Finally, Imaizumi puts down her arms, heaving a large sigh as she gazed at Kobayashi. “I just couldn’t live with the guilt, and you were being unusual all of a sudden, so I thought maybe I’m the one who’s at fault.” 

 

The younger girl just stared into blank space, her mind preoccupied. The words slowly came back inside her head.

 

_We could’ve worked out, you know?_

 

If not for her tendency to overthink, she’d just brush those words off like it was just something Imaizumi would say to plead, but no. It sounded too different inside her mind and it stings because she knew she was the only one who felt like that between the two of them.

 

“I came here… because I wanted to talk to you about something.” Imaizumi finally says, tensed because she knows even the girl in front of her wasn’t in the mood to talk. But she has to do it; for the band, and for the two of them. “Can we go to your room and talk?”

 

 _Maybe this is the right time to tell her everything,_ Kobayashi thought. For the sake of her friends. 

 

The younger girl nods as she went up the stairs and gestured her senior to follow, right after she closes the front door first.

 

“I haven’t went out from the den in days, so feel free to judge my room if you want.” She says, opening the door. Instead of scrunching her face into a frown, Imaizumi feels a certain warmth emanating from the room. It was simple yet defined. A guitar was mounted on the wall, a saxophone displayed at the corner of the room with a small organ beside it. There were pieces preserved inside an opened clear book, as well as some unfinished pieces on her study table.

 

Her bed was minorly unfixed, and the windows were open with a screen shield to prevent insects. The room has its natural light from outside, as she noticed that the room isn’t actually lit with an artificial light at all. There were glow in the dark stars stuck onto the surface of her ceiling and some of the walls; and Imaizumi never thought that a dark room could look this ethereal.

 

“You stay here for two days and it still looks this good?”

 

Kobayashi lightly chuckles to herself, sitting comfortably by the sofa beside the large window. “It has its own charm.”

 

“It’s beautiful. No wonder you didn’t like to leave your room at all.”

 

“As long as the sky is shimmering with stars, I can stay here my entire life; provided I have my own pantry though.”

 

Imaizumi sits just opposite of Kobayashi. They both had a good view outside, even if the moon wasn’t as bright as before. The older girl notices a photo framed above a small table behind her junior. Even with the small absence of light, she sees a little girl— presumably the girl she’s with right now— holding a trophy.

 

Her curiosity got the best of her.

 

“Have you always been active in contests before?” She subtly asks, but Kobayashi knew better. She looks behind her and sure enough, the old photo was still there even though she had ignored it for how many years.

 

“O-Oh this?” She says, taking the frame in her hand and reaching it towards Imaizumi. “That was just before our band came to life.”

 

Zuumin’s fingertips slides across the glass, wiping a bit of the dust that almost covered the little girl’s face. Upon closer look, she sees three more kids beside her, little Shida, with two fingers raised just above little Yui’s head, little Risa who was grimacing at a girl clinging onto her, who was very unfamiliar to her eyes, gingerly smiling wide towards Risa.

 

“That’s Neru.” Kobayashi says just before Imaizumi could ask. “Even if Risa hated her to the bone, she always stuck with us.”

 

“Stuck with you, huh.” The senior smiles.

 

“I don’t know, I brush them off most of the time when we were little, but they just seem to like me so much they’d follow me around.” The younger girl shrugs, “I can’t really tell why I seemed to attract friends as obnoxious as them.”

 

“Can’t really blame them though,” the older Yui chuckles, “You’re too likeable.”

 

Thank god it’s dark, or else Imaizumi would’ve noticed the blush forming on Yui’s cheeks. She coughs on her fist to recover.

 

“What did you win in this photo?”

 

“Three friends that share the same brain cell and the right to flex my skills in singing. Well, used to, anyway.” The older girl laughs, while the younger one smiles, but later sighs as the smile disappeared. “That was the last time I used my vocals for something. After that, I just used whatever knowledge I had for music; and eventually Yuuka came when we formed our band here in Tokyo.”

 

“Where were you guys from before?”

 

“I was originally from Saitama, but we had to relocate near Nagasaki. Manaka and Risa’s parents must’ve had the same thoughts as mine, and our first meeting was at a playground; they were big bullies, but somehow they never picked on me. If I didn’t agree with relocating in the first place, I would’ve stayed at my grandparents’ house and study in Saitama; but if that did happen, I guess everything would have occurred differently.”

 

“But were you happy now?” The older girl asks, to which Kobayashi only smiled in return. “Life is bland when you don’t have any noisy friends to nag you everyday.”

 

“Trust me,” Kobayashi adds, “I couldn’t find a proper place to eat my lunch without them sneaking up on me every time.”

 

They laugh until the atmosphere slowly died down. Then Imaizumi suddenly remembered: “What’s the story between Risa and Neru?”

 

“Oh, uh, Manaka and Risa once fought when we were kids. It was so bad that I had to intervene; usually I don’t because it’s their problem to solve, but being the big bullies they used to be, they solve it with violence. Their first fight happened at the playground and Manaka threw the nearby basketball to Risa. Risa was able to evade, but I wasn’t, so my nose bled and I cried so hard that they were forced to reconcile and bring me back to our house. Both of them got a night’s worth of sermon afterwards.”

 

That memory was still funny until now that Kobayashi didn’t notice she was grinning. Imaizumi seemed to enjoy every bit of the story too, as she was intently listening with the same, big grin plastered on her lips.

 

“A year after, they both fought again but I didn’t allow them to hurt each other, so Risa stormed outside. I talked to Manaka to sort things through, but we end up sprinting to the playground near my house once again when we heard Risa’s voice echoing throughout the neighborhood. She gained a lot of bruises protecting a girl from a group of molesters.”

 

“And that girl is Neru?”

 

The girl nods. “Risa and Manaka knew her from the same year. She was wearing our uniform, so I assumed she was from the same school. When we came, Manaka got mad and scared them away; Risa broke her arm, in which Neru pushes to pay for the expenses, until Risa told her, and I quote: _‘You’re much more important than a broken arm.’_ ”

 

Another burst of giggles from Imaizumi. “So that’s how she fell.”

 

“Risa still regrets opening her mouth about that until now.” Yui laughs at the memory. “That’s how she learned to keep quiet unless it’s necessary and doesn’t reward her with any unwanted, lifetime supply of annoying girls chasing her everywhere.”

 

“I don’t think Nagahama-san fell for her words though; maybe she really saw what kind of person Risa is. I mean, it’s rare that someone would pull a stunt for someone they barely knew.”

 

As Kobayashi glanced outside, she briefly remembers that she also fell for someone in the exact same way. “Can’t really blame her, love is a playful thing.”

 

“Is that right?” Imaizumi chimes, excited. “You fancy someone?”

 

Ah shit. She shouldn’t have gone sentimental and put her foot where her mouth is. How is she supposed to answer that?

 

“Probably.”

 

“Wow. She must be too smiting for Kobayashi Yui to like.” The older girl says as she chuckled, but that was the first time Kobayashi’s heart began to tighten in pain just by seeing the smile she really loved. “She must be really great.”

 

“Better than great.” The younger girl mutters. Imaizumi barely heard but she chose not to speak. “She makes me feel better. She’s better than my favorite piano pieces, she’s better than my favorite meal, she’s even better than all of my favorites combined. I’d choose her over every difficult choice I had to make, I’d choose her even if I’m not viable from the start.”

 

“...Just like a sad fairy tale..” Imaizumi adds, and the pain increases. Almost too much unbearable for Kobayashi to put up a straight face or say a word without choking on her words.

 

“The problem with fairytales,” Kobayashi sighs. She could feel something hot behind her nose and her vision began to blur. “...is the fact that its impact was too strong that even reality feels like a parallel world of fairytales. If only fairytales didn’t exist, then…”

 

Before she could even continue, something warm seeps upon the younger girl’s hand. She turns her head to the girl in front of her, her both hands cupping hers in the most gentle way possible. She slowly looks up and their gazes met, the older girl’s irises still sparkling even at the darkness of night.

 

“Yuipon,” Her smooth voice echoes inside her head, “I’m sure she’ll love you. I mean, look,” She whispers as she tucks a stray hair that covered her junior’s pretty face. “You got the eyes, the rosy cheeks, the cutest smile; and top of that, you had the talent and the vibe; what’s there to not like?”

 

The more words her senior slips from her lips, the more she wanted to push her away and shut her off forever. She can’t just be this cruel, and say things she doesn’t know. She never knew the things she had to undergo, the sleep she had lost and the effin’ feelings just kept on resurfacing when she just wanted to play her instruments in peace. Imaizumi never knew how very ironic it was that the girl suffering from this stupid romance was in love with the girl who was pushing her to confess.

 

The void inside her began to increase, or hardly did, since it felt like Imaizumi still had more fight in her just to fill the void that slowly consumed her.

 

The sparkle in her eyes never left, and Kobayashi once again, sees the starry sky reflected in her glossy, teary eyes. For a moment, she didn’t even bother comparing it to the stars she used to look at her scope; it was pristine to even compare. It was overwhelming. For nineteen years she’s been living and most of it was spent inside this very room, locked away from the negativity outside; unlike the tranquil sea of stars at night that watched above her from the window as she drifted peacefully.

 

But this— wow. Fascinating and just right in front of her. A kind of star that she didn’t need to wait for the day to set just to see it, the kind of star that was at the center of everything, something that her eyes always land upon whenever she’s around, with a light like the sphere of a flaring, incandescent ball of plasma, like—

  
  
  
  
  
  


Like the sun.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Of course. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Of-fucking-course.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Her stomach dropped, guilt washing over her. She couldn’t do this. She’s fully aware how difficult it is for someone to be the source of their happiness; and she for sure didn’t want Imaizumi to handle the responsibility just because of her sorry excuse of an emotion.

 

Unconsciously, she slowly pulled her hand away and tucked a stray hair again, wondering how to calm her shaky hands from her senior’s hold. The warmth disappeared, but Imaizumi stayed in her place, still looking at her eyes even if she didn’t return the stare. “If it’s Yuipon, I’m sure anybody would fall for you.”

 

Then why?

  
  


_Why aren’t you doing anything? Why aren’t you saying anything?_

  


Those thoughts buzzed inside her head like bees, those words mocking her to full extent. She didn’t need this shit just because she is in love!

 

Her breath shakes as she inhaled, tears brimming in her eyes. “It’s just useless and ineffective to the girl I like.”

 

“No! Hey, don’t say that, you haven’t even told her yet!” Imaizumi beams, and the room begins to shine a little brighter. “At the festival, tell her. It’s the perfect day!”

 

The festival is in two days, but she isn’t sure if she has enough time to compose and think about how to deal with herself. The time, the day, the atmosphere; how would she able to set it up into something… ungross. Fuck. Just the thought sends her stomach churning.

 

“I’ll.. think about it.” She mumbles, sighing. The older girl could only muster an apologetic smile, hoping she was able to help her in some way, although it’s quite obvious there was still something wrong.

  
  


But of course, she knew what it is.

  


“Hey, Yuipon,” She suddenly says, and Pon looks at her with quizzical eyes. “...Do you think.. you could return to the band by the festival?”

 

She knew the band was taboo to her ears by now, but she wouldn’t know if she doesn’t bring it up. And as if on cue, the girl returns her apologetic smile and silently shook her head. It’s better that way, she thinks, even though a lot would change if she left. But still, it’s better that way.

 

“I… I see.” Well, it’s worth the shot. The older girl knew something broke inside the younger girl that needed a longer time than two days to heal, and they’re there to help her in any way they can, even if it meant risking a lot of what they practiced for. “Will you be watching?”

  


The girl doesn’t answer, hoping Imaizumi would know what that meant.

  


Imaizumi gingerly scratches her nape, troubled. “O-Okay then. We’ll just copy a tape from the video committee afterwards and give it to you.”

 

“Thanks, Zuumin.”

 

Even if it hurt, the older girl hid her shaking hands from Kobayashi. Who was she kidding? After the incident two days ago, one wouldn’t even bother hoping she’d come and see something that will resurface a past that used to haunt her. She lets out another shaky breath. 

 

Kobayashi’s hands cupping hers broke her out from her trance. “I apologize if it’s too sudden. Just tell Risa and I’m sure she’ll understand.”

  


“No worries,” The girl could only nod and smile. “..And I need to go. I could already see the sun rising from the other side.”

 

“Do I need to walk you home?”

  


“As much as I want to, but I’d rather have you rest. My house isn’t too far from here.”

  
  


That was a lie.

  


She just didn’t want her there to see her cry as soon as she stepped inside the gates of her home.

  


It was empty.

  
  
  


Like a star just waiting for its turn to explode.

  
  
  
  
  


_“Shit..”_ Imaizumi thought, as she buries her face into the palms of her hand. Her tears wouldn’t stop streaming down her cheeks. _“This couldn’t be.. This can’t be happening!”_

  


She couldn’t stop cursing.

  
  


She remembers how the younger girl looked when the girl that captured her heart was brought up. Her frequent gazes whenever she wasn’t looking at her, the way she flinches whenever their skin grazed, and how her breath hitched when she leaned closer to her. All of that was seemingly pointed to one direction only, and that direction seemed something that was entirely different than what was originally in her mind.

  
  
  


 

 

As she held the hand that Kobayashi once held tightly in hers, her chest began to hurt painfully.

  
  
  


 

 

 

 

 

_“The girl she was talking about earlier......._

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

_...it was me, wasn’t it?”_

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the long wait! this isnt the ending yet even though i planned this story to have 3 chapters only haha. more or less next chapter’s gonna be the last.

**Author's Note:**

> It’s been a while since I last uploaded a new story, so here it is~ (Lol) 
> 
> The title is based on the ending song of Persona 5, “Hoshi to Bokura to” which directly translates to “With the Stars and Us”. And I find it beautiful ;_;
> 
> 2nd chapter will be up in I don’t know when though;;


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